Lawyers seek ruling in execution lawsuit LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Lawyers for nine death row inmates asked a judge this week to deem Arkansas’ new lethal injection law unconstitutional because they say it gives too much power to the state’s correction agency. The Department of Correction, however, asked a judge to uphold the law, arguing that it’s constitutional. It’s not clear when a judge might weigh in on the matter, but a decision in the case could either speed up or further delay exec...

Troopers fatally shoot man in Judsonia standoff JUDSONIA (AP) — A Judsonia man was killed in a shootout with an Arkansas State Police SWAT team after an hours-long standoff in White County, authorities said Tuesday. Judsonia police responded to a call Monday night about a man who was allegedly making threats to neighbors, Arkansas State Police said in a news release. According to state police, Charles Adrien Martin, 40, allegedly fired a gun at a police officer, then holed up inside his hom...

Trial reset for man charged in Arkadelphia case ARKADELPHIA (AP) — The trial of a man charged in the killings of an Arkadelphia man and his two young stepdaughters has been rescheduled. Riakos Lizana II is charged with capital murder in the Dec. 6 deaths of 4-year-old Marley Crutchfield, 6-year-old Adiele Crutchfield and the girls’ stepfather, Bobby Jean Galbraith, in Arkadelphia. Lizana was previously scheduled to go on trial next month, but a judge has rescheduled his trial to begin Feb. ...

Juvenile drug court in Craighead County to end JONESBORO (AP) — Craighead County’s juvenile drug court will be discontinued and a $1 million federal grant to the program will be returned, officials said. The court tries to help participants with drug and alcohol abuse and some mental conditions, and includes counseling and therapy. Those chosen must submit to drug tests. Officials said participants have a lower chance of recidivism. Judge Lee Fergus, who has overseen the program since its ...

Arson suspected in fire at Stuttgart nightclub STUTTGART (AP) — Authorities suspect arson in a fire that broke out at a Stuttgart nightclub last week. A report from the Stuttgart Fire Department says authorities found two bottles of lighter fluid and the lid to a gas can after extinguishing a blaze Thursday at Casey’s Warehouse. The Stuttgart Daily Leader reported damage to the nightclub was estimated at $2,000. No arrests have been made. Authorities say the fire happened less than two wee...

Bond Hearing (Sept. 14, 2013(The following individuals appeared in felony bond hearings Friday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed. If charged, they will appear Oct. 7 in Circuit Court. • Gayle Paladino, 44, fraudulent use of a credit card, forgery and failure to appear — $200,000. A warrant was issued for Paladino after she did not appear for an Aug. 12 court date, according to court documents. On Aug. 2...

Records in death of man, 107, to be sealed LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A judge issued an order Friday barring law enforcement officers from releasing any more information about the case of a 107-year-old Arkansas man who died in a police standoff last weekend. Records relating to an investigation into the Sept. 7 death of Monroe Isadore in Pine Bluff also will be sealed, Judge Berlin Jones said. He also appointed special prosecutor Jason Barrett and special deputy prosecutor Jack McQuary to inv...

Benton woman arrested on 11th DWI charge BENTON (AP) — Benton police said a woman has been arrested for her 11th driving while intoxicated charge. Police said in a news release Sheila Blair, 49, of Benton was arrested Wednesday afternoon for DWI, refusing to submit to an intoxication test and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. Online jail records show she is being held without bond. Police say Blair was arrested by officers investigating reports of a reckless driver and that s...

Bond Hearings (Sept. 12, 2013)The following individuals appeared in felony bond hearings Wednesday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed. If charged, they will appear Oct. 7 in Circuit Court. • Matthew Hill, 30, three counts rape and three counts first-degree sexual assault — $100,000. Hill was arrested Tuesday following a report made to the Child Abuse Hotline, according to testimony from an officer with th...

3 Texarkana-area officials seek audit TEXARKANA (AP) — Three Texarkana officials, including the local prosecutor, have asked Arkansas auditors to review financial incentives for a business park that were negotiated by a former city manager who was rehired last week. Texarkana rehired Harold Boldt two months after awarding him a $162,000 severance package. The audit request doesn’t mention Boldt by name, but the city manager negotiated financing for the Crossroads Business Park on ...

Trial date set for man in machete slayings FORT SMITH (AP) — A judge has set a trial date for a Fort Smith man charged with capital murder for using a machete to kill two people. Circuit Judge Steve Tabor on Tuesday ordered trial to start Feb. 6 for 20-year-old Gregory Anthony Kinsey. A lawyer for Kinsey says she expects to ask that trial be delayed due to a scheduling conflict. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kinsey, who is charged in the June slayings of 39-year-old Bra...

Pine Bluff man, 107, spoke of being shot before standoffLITTLE ROCK (AP) — A 107-year-old Arkansas man who died in a police standoff this weekend told officers months earlier that they would have to shoot him or throw him in jail before he went back home with his son-in-law, according to police reports obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Monroe Isadore made the comments during an argument in June when he said his daughter and son-in-law didn’t want him around, according to one of several poli...

Audit: Poor management in University of Arkansas divisionLITTLE ROCK (AP) — State auditors said Tuesday that poor management and a failure to follow school policies led to unbridled spending within a division at the University of Arkansas but that there was no evidence that blowing the budget was done for anyone’s personal gain. The Fayetteville campus’ Advancement Division, which handles the school’s public relations, alumni groups and fundraising, overspent its budget by $3.2 million in the fiscal...

Jones suit against Russellville dismissedLITTLE ROCK — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Russellville city officials by the then-boyfriend of slain Arkansas Tech University student Nona Dirksmeyer. Kevin Jones filed the suit Dec. 15, 2011, in federal court in Little Rock against Russellville Police Department Det. Mark Frost, then-Chief James Bacon and Gary Dunn. He alleged Frost and Bacon “tacitly agreed” to protect Dunn from prosecution in order to have Jones prosecuted...

Bond Hearings (Sept. 10, 2013)Three men charged with assisting a fellow inmate escape the Pope County Detention Center appeared in bond hearings Monday. Jeremy Cates, 23; William Lewis, 32; and James Titterington, 28, were each ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bond after District Court Judge Don Bourne determined there was probable cause to hold them on suspicion of assisting Nicholas Allen, 29, in escaping the county detention center on Aug. 23. A Pope County Sheriff’s Off...

Courthouse news (Sept. 8, 2013)The following civil cases were filed in Pope County Circuit Court from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5: Cases assigned to the First Division: First State Bank v. Billy Wayne Kies and Clelia Sorrells Kies and Cindy Lou Hedrick. Steven Dale and Leland Dale v. Bank of the Ozarks, Inc., Angie Smith, individually and in her capacity as an officer/agent of Bank of the Ozarks, Inc., Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company. Cases assigned to the Third Divi...

Arizona woman released after decades on death row PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona woman is getting her first taste of freedom in more than two decades after an appeals court overturned her murder conviction, setting the stage for a retrial as prosecutors seek to put her back on death row. Debra Milke walked out of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s jail Friday after supporters posted her $250,000 bond. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned her conviction in March, ruling that prosecutors should ha...

Ohio kidnapper says police missed chance in 2004 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man who held three women for a decade in his Cleveland home said authorities missed an opportunity to catch him in 2004, because his picture should have been captured by a school security camera minutes before he abducted one of his victims, according to interrogation videotapes that became public Friday. In the video, deceased kidnapper Ariel Castro says cameras outside Gina DeJesus’ school should have captured him the...